f5 bootlace straps

[tattiemando]

I am considering using a bootlace strap for my f5 mandolin. How do people find them? are they comfortable? Do they keep the instrument stable, and how do people secure there bootlace strap to the mandolin. I ve seen photos of Sam Bush using a bootlace strap.

[Lane Pryce]

A boot lace does the trick. However Loren Bailey's straps do it with a whole lotta class!! He has a site --- I think its -the bailey strap dot com. I like mine alot. Lp

[Dan Cohen]

Baseball glove leather strips are flat, soft and stable and can be slit for the endpin attachment.

[mandroid]

Tubular braid around bundled cord laces like mini climbing ropes can be aquired in a variety of colors and are a bit larger diameter too, and so more comfy.
Knot technique book will suggest some decorative ways to make the loops.


Hmm F5 boots... toes scroll up for yer big toe. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Joe Mangio]

Bootlace for me ....They can be found in most cobbler shops
for around a buck a piece. Tie a hangman's noose on each end
for an F style.

[Bob Denton]

For a delux version, slide on a piece of narrow black surgical tubing (available at most scuba shops).

Stay away from K-marts leather laces..they break easily and don't even make it as boot laces.

Cya!

[OlderThanWillie]

Bill Monroe's strap was a bootlace. If it was good enough for him, then...

[Ken Berner]

Leather bootlaces work just fine; I dyed mine black. Some braided straps tend to slip a little, whereas the lace grabs better. Try it, you'll like it.

[Brad Weiss]

I think they're cheap and easy - and cool. #I want to see if I can fit one around an A model where the fret board is elevated.

[tattiemando]

Thanks neighbours, great information I'll give it a try.

[Dan Adams]

My ten year old daughter braided them together as a Father's day gift. Best mando strap I ever owned. Dan

[maroon]

I think they're cheap and easy - and cool. #I want to see if I can fit one around an A model where the fret board is elevated.
BradW,

I use a bootlace for both my F-style and my A-style. And as for my A-style, that's where I put it, under the fingerboard extension. I tied a hangman's noose at both ends.

If you do a search you will find a few threads discussing this with regard to A-styles. The alternative is to tie it around the headstock, either by the nut or (to avoid bumping it with you hand while playing) halfway up the peg head just beyond tuners for the G and E strings.

[Paul Kotapish]

If you have a horse-tack supply shop nearby, get some thin leather straps there. You should be able to find a variety of thicknesses and colors, and you should find something perfectly suitable for a strap. A lot of the bootlaces sold as such in regular shoe shops and craft stores aren't necessarily super strong and as reliable as you'd want for hanging your instrument. A lot of braiding leather and bootlace stock is jointed from many pieces, and while that is perfectly acceptible for craft application and light-duty lacing, you want something stronger for a strap.

I use a lovely thin braided strap from the Bluegrass Boutique (http://www.bluegrassboutique.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=Accessories&cart_id=6526264.2456) these days, but before that I used a good, heavy-duty lace from a tack shop for many years with no problems.

[Scotti Adams]

I used to use a boot lace for years....with the hangmans noose...served me well til I got a 'Roo strap. The only fault I had with the boot lace that over period of time they had a tendency to stretch abit....if you didnt keep an eye one it you'd be carrying a mando like Larry Sparks hangs a guitar....low.

[mandolinplucker]

My suggestion and what I use is a strip of 3/4" leather from a leather belt. It happened to be a nice looking hand tooled belt that for some reason became too short. I put a leather bootlace with hangmans noose on both ends on each end of the belt leather. The end towards the tailpiece is pulled through the leather and the knot is tied back a ways from the strap so the knot can be slid to adjuse the length of the strap. I play with the strap like a guitar, but I can slide the knot and adjust it to fit an over the shoulder player in seconds. A strap won't roll off the shoulder like a lace.

[tattiemando]

L beg to differ mandolilinplucker I just purchasd a boot lace and strung it up with the hangmans noose both ends, its the most stable strap I ever used.

[howbahmando]

brown latigo lace from Tandy, noose at the button end, running bowline for the scroll.

[fatt-dad]

For a little bit of variety, take two leather boot laces and braid them together with a poly lace. The effect is interesting. I've made lots of straps for mandolins using braided boot laces.

f-d

[newmoonkid]

Been playing mando all of one week, so feel free to ignore me.

I started out with a black nylon boot lace. (I have a bunch on hand for making heavy duty rosaries, since most look girly and tend to break in a working man's pocket.)

I wanted something a little nicer so I picked up two sets of 72" leather laces, one pair brown, one pair black. I plaited them together, knotted a leather tab cut from scrap on one end for the endpin and made a coxcomb loop at the other from the excess lacing, to slipknot around the peghead.

It's made to fit, non-adjustable, and will stretch over time. But its a prototype. I hope to be playing something better than this flat@$$ chinese thing soon, and I will plait a better lanyard then.